A flower had been placed in front of the portrait of the lost Snow Princess. A single red rose, almost to red to be true with its thorns still attached. It had been 18 years since the girl went missing, and her mother had before passed on. Her father had remarried, and his new wife was beautiful. Fair as fair could be was Kahi, Queen of New Soul City. Through Kahi, the citizens of NSC put their grief away and rejoiced of a new love for their King. Through Kahi, the image of the Snow Princess was taken from the forefront and put into the deepest, most forgotten, part of the heart. Through Kahi, NSC was happy. And Kahi was pleased.

            Queen Kahi had the life that others only imagined. She was married to the King of her homeland and she was the most beautiful woman in the land. How did she know this? Her trusty mirror always told her so. Given to her by a passing group of sorcerers of the electronic arts*, was a mirror that would never lie. Each day she would ask, “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall…who’s the fairest of them all?’ and each day like clockwork the mirror would say, “No one is as fair as the Queen, my lady.”. After her ego was fluffed, she would cackle and go on about her day ruling her husband and the city in the same demanding way.

            It was only when the mirror’s answer changed that Kahi’s routine was halted. She asked the mirror once, twice, three times the same question but the mirror’s reply always was: “Your beauty is compelling, this is true but there is someone fairer than you”. Kahi could not think, she only could seethe but then she thought of something that could not be. A poisoned apple took the light out of the only problem in her life. The little brat was only three, but the mirror saw what she could be, “Her beauty shall grow stronger and stronger, and you shall be fairest no further longer.” So Kahi did the only thing she could do and the mirror’s answer was no longer true. But how could there be another as fair as she when the girl was lost beyond the trees. The answer was simple, but the message stuck.

“Bora is alive, and you’re out of luck.”